The Veils Of Azlaroc: Fred Saberhagen

Imagine living on a planet where shimmering veils of pure energy fall at yearly intervals, sealing in everything and everyone on its surface into a time 'pocket'. You can live in a time pocket that makes life an almost ageless state, where time passes so slowly that senility and death are meaningless concepts. But the penalty is that only have free interaction with those of your own 'generation': settlers from ten years before are seen only as blurred outlines and a settler from fifty years before could walk right through you. Tourists are careful to heed the date of the next Veilfall, knowing that to be on Azlaroc at Veilfall is to be there forever. And what if you're the one man on Azlaroc that knows for a certainty that Veilfall is coming early, and without warning? Cover art by Dean Ellis.